Canal Reflections

Biiiiig sorry for not writing for eons. First off I don't really know if anyone reads this besides my parents (who I skype and share my stories with already) so I have little real incentive to write all my travels down. However after my last trip to Amsterdam, I got a bit more reflective. I had always been writing down different thoughts I've had down on my note pad on my phone, and it reached a point where I thought maybe I should organize them on paper.

Two trips I didn't write about were my voyage to the Arctic lands of Lofoten with my family, and then to Trond's family cabin in the mountains of Trondheim a week later. Both of these were EXTRAORDINARY trips. Honestly. They were both insane, and way cooler than then the story I'm about to tell here so do yourself a favor and check out the gallery tab up above and look at those photos.

Amsterdam was different then all of my other trips for a couple of reasons. Most visibly different was the fact that it was spring, which was a great change up. I've been freezing my ass off up in Norway for the past month, and even though it was the end of April there was still two inches snow on the ground... Needless to say being in 60 degree weather and seeing leaves was so so so great. I'm not sure if this happens to other people but I can never smell anything in the winter months, so heading to Amsterdam was incredibly refreshing both visually and "odor-ly". In terms of sound, the new and almost ubiquitous sound was bike bells ringing in my ears. Amsterdam has more bicycles then people, so the sound of bike bells sounding to warn bumbling and/or drunk pedestrians to get out of the way quickly became regular to me. I'm very surprised I never saw an accident, but on Kings day I did see one man drunkenly fall off and completely destroy his ride.

And that brings me to the whole reason why we came here! Although I did enjoy watching the guy fall off, it wasn't that. Kings Day is kind of like the Netherland's version of USA's fourth of July. Except the dutch go harder, and I mean real harder. Some people think its one of the biggest party celebrations in Europe. By the time we got up and decided to wander around the streets a little before noon, people were already absolutely plastered, all covered in orange (the national color) and straight up urinating in the streets. The city had deployed these public bathroom bucket-type things that would hopefully dissuade people too drunk to find a bathroom from going in the streets or cars. I still saw both of these things happen. Although I'm making it sound like people were just black out drunk, that was only my first observation. Everyone was out and about in the city, having a great time. Even the kids were running around gleefully, I even saw one dancing on a table in the middle of a shoulder to shoulder jam-packed street. And it wasn't just on a couple streets. It was literally every single street we came upon. My favorite part was seeing hundreds of boats filled with people floating down the canals. It seemed like everywhere we turned there was some sort of mini-party going on; either boats or stages were blasting music with the dutch and tourists alike dancing.

Amsterdam was the biggest city I've been to yet on my travels, especially so since it was the national holiday. Being around so many people and tourists made me realize how different my experience has been living in Oslo. I had to be way more aware in Amsterdam, while back in Oslo I could leave stuff laying around on tables and almost never have to be worried about being pick pocketed. It also made me realize how un-touristy Oslo is. Not many people decide to put Oslo on the "European travel tour" hit list, especially in the winter. In Oslo I think I've only seen maybe five other Americans in the city or the country itself, besides my other American student friends I sometimes travel with. In Amsterdam I saw many many more. It makes me thankful I picked a very unique study abroad place that is not a popular study abroad destination.

After King's Day Trond Clancy Nora and I had three more days in the city, so we got to explore much more. As you probably know, Amsterdam has no policy towards drugs or prostitution, so everything is legal to do, albeit it's sheltered in certain stores and districts. It was real bizarre to see the red light district in the first person; normally you imagine that happening in areas behind closed doors, not right in your face. Being in Amsterdam made Trond and I talk a lot about the pros of cons of their legalization policies. We couldn't really decide if their full on libertarian way of dealing with it worked. Here are some of my thoughts. If people have good intentions and are responsible, then they use the drugs and they don't harm others while doing them. However obviously that doesn't always happen, because people abuse them. The argument "won't people use them if their illegal anyways" sometimes makes sense cause it promotes gangs and black markets, but it also makes them much easier to obtain so it introduces it to populations that might not have tried them if they were illegal and hard to buy. Living at school and Vermont, its incredibly easy for me to get marijuana, but maybe a bit harder to get other more "hard" substances. But if I really wanted to, I could. I guess what I've discerned is that its hard to weigh their costs and benefits, cause it greatly depends on the society that you introduce the drug policies in. It was fun to talk to Trond about it, because he has fairly open mindset to doing drugs, and he has the interesting benefit of living in Colorado. He says legalization has definitely caused some of the people he's known to start trying marijuana and other substances, making him think weed is gateway drug to other harmful stuff. Most importantly, I've discovered its almost impossible to decide whether people should have the right to have control over certain choices they have.

On a different note, this trip has made me realize how easy it is to save money in Europe if you're 1. patient 2. not picky. 3. open to new experiences. 4. Most importantly - take time to plan ahead. Trond is the best travel partner I could have with me; we both follow these four rules with almost everything we do. I've planned all my trips months ahead, picking countries that I've never been to before that tend to be cheap, and not large tourist hotspots. I have gone to expensive places, but thats mostly only due to flight costs. Choosing cheap hostels, picking cheap and local restaurants, and not buying an expresso coffees every other day really cut down on your costs. Having this mindset and being able to live frugally has made me super thankful for being a Boyscout (thrify is one of the scout laws) as well as having parents who always taught me to save money when and where I could.

Well thats enough ranting for one night. Currently in Brussels after hitting up Warsaw again ($27 in flights to go to these two countries!), and heading to the canary islands for $40. Pretty unbelievable. Volcanoes, beaches, and 70 degree weather awaits :)